November 20 2011

5:33 AM

Highlights

In final-day play at The Presidents Cup, the American team
retains the Cup with a 19-15 advantage over the
Internationals.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

MELBOURNE, Australia -- There were some anxious moments early.
The Internationals set the aggressive tone off the first tee by
using driver. U.S. Captain Fred Couples was walking in circles,
hoping his team could just win a hole.

In the end, no worries for the Americans. Needing to win five
matches on the final day of singles competition to retain The
Presidents Cup, the U.S. ending up winning six of the 12 matches to
finish with a 19-15 advantage.

Pierse/Getty Images

Jim Furyk embraces his caddie, Mike "Fluff" Cowan after
finishing off a perfect week at Royal Melbourne.

"I was very nervous," Couples said. "I really didn't think Royal
Melbourne was on our side today. But our guys closed it off."

This is the seventh time in nine Presidents Cup that the U.S.
has emerged victorious. The win also avenges the Americans' only
loss in this event, 13 years ago here at Royal Melbourne. The only
other time they didn't win the Cup outright was in 2003 when they
shared it with the Internationals.

Greg Norman's squad, with five Australians on the roster, had
high hopes coming into this week. But an 8-3 advantage for the
Americans in foursomes proved to be too much to overcome.

"That's what really put us behind the 8-ball," Norman said, "and
we never really recovered."

Jim Furyk, the 2010 FedExCup champion, was the top point-getter
for the U.S. He became just the fourth player in Presidents Cup
history to win all five of his matches.

It was an emotional moment for Furyk after he closed out Ernie
Els 4 and 3 on Sunday. Earlier in the week, Furyk won three matches
with Phil Mickelson and one match with Nick Watney as his partners.
He thanked both players for helping him grab a place in the record
book

"I didn't expect to play as well as I did," said Furyk, who did
not win on the PGA TOUR this year, "but it had to do a lot with my
putting this week."

As he did two years ago, Tiger Woods won the decisive point for
the U.S. team, as he beat Aaron Baddeley 4 and 3 in the penultimate
match.

Woods, a Captain's Pick by Couples, justified his spot on the
team as he finally holed some putts on Sunday after playing well
from tee to green all week.

"I played well all week," Woods said. “Unfortunately, I
didn’t make putts. I hit putts well, but they just
weren’t going in. Caught a lot of lips the first three days,
first four matches.

“Today was a different deal. I, for some reason, felt it
and they were pouring right in there.”